Mug shot of computer scientist Dennis Ritchie, who with Ken Thompson have been awarded a 2011 Japan Prize for Information and Communications for their work creating the UNIX computer operating system while working a researchers for Bell Labs in 1969.
Ran on: 01-25-2011
Dennis Ritchie

Photo: Courtesy Japan Prize Foundation

Mug shot of computer scientist Dennis Ritchie, who with Ken...

Image 2 of 3

Mug shot of computer scientist Ken Thompson, who with Dennis Ritchie have been awarded a 2011 Japan Prize for Information and Communications for their work creating the UNIX computer operating system while working a researchers for Bell Labs in 1969.

Photo: Courtesy Japan Prize Foundation

Mug shot of computer scientist Ken Thompson, who with Dennis...

Image 3 of 3

Computer scientists Ken Thompson (seated) and Dennis Ritchie are working on an old PDP-11 computer at Bell Labs in New Jersey in this photo taken in 1972. Thompson and Ritchie have been awarded a 2011 Japan Prize for Information and Communications for their work creating the UNIX computer operating system while working as researchers at Bell Labs
Computer scientists Ken Thompson (seated) and Dennis Ritchie are working on an old PDP-11 computer at Bell Labs in New Jersey in this photo taken in 1972. Thompson and Ritchie have been awarded a 2011 Japan Prize for Information and Communications for their work creating the UNIX computer operating system while working as researchers at Bell Labs
Information EMBARGOED until 3 a.m. Pacific Time Tuesday, Jan. 25, 2011
Ran on: 01-25-2011
Ken Thompson (seated) and Dennis Ritchie at work for Bell Labs on the computers of the day.

When Ken Thompson and Dennis Ritchie began creating the Unix operating system in 1969, they did not envision that their work would become a backbone of the computer revolution that has transformed the world.

The two Bell Labs computer scientists - named today as winners of the 2011 Japan Prize for information and communications - just wanted to build a better operating system.

"I did it as a backlash against the bad operating systems of the day," said Thompson, 67. "We were just trying to get something better to get our own work done."

The pair will split a $600,000 prize awarded by the foundation, which began in 1982 to honor those whose work "aims to promote the advancement of science and technology for the peace and prosperity of mankind." Ten Japan Prize winners have also won Nobel Prizes.

Unix, developed in conjunction with the programming language C, "has significantly advanced computer software, hardware and networks over the past four decades and facilitated the realization of the Internet," the foundation said in a news release.

In a telephone interview before he flew to Tokyo last week for a news conference announcing the award, Thompson said he was surprised about the honor, and had "mixed feelings" since it comes "so far after the fact."

Thompson, Ritchie and other Bell Labs researchers began writing Unix at a time when computers were large and expensive and their complex operating systems were tied to specific manufacturers.

The researchers sought to create an operating system that could be simpler and would be portable to other computers.

In an interview, Ritchie of Murray Hill, N.J., said he and Thompson were motivated to write code that would "make my life a little easier. It was an attempt to improve our environment."

Although they couldn't know their operating system would lead to today's computerized, networked world, they did believe their creation would be widely adopted.

As part of their work, they created the C computer programming language, which is still widely used.

In making the award, the Japan Prize Foundation cited Bell Labs' decision to distribute a sixth edition of Unix to universities and research institutions in 1975 at the start of the "open source" culture.

UC Berkeley became the hot spot for Unix development, as computer scientists there developed an extended version known as Berkeley Software Distribution. Among them was Bill Joy, who went on to become a co-founder of Sun Microsystems Inc.

Thompson modestly downplayed his role in developing Unix, saying the work that made the operating system "bigger and better" was "done by other people."

"Unix was just the foundation for the stuff to come," he said.

Thompson and Ritchie have previously been honored for their work developing Unix and the C language, including a 1998 National Medal of Technology presented by President Bill Clinton.

Thompson has retired from Bell Labs, but continues to work part time at Google on an open programming language called Go.

Ritchie has also retired from Alcatel-Lucent but continues his consulting work.

Two Japanese scientists from Osaka University, Dr. Tadamitsu Kishimoto and Dr. Toshio Hirano, were named winners of the Japan Prize for bioscience and medical science for their discovery of interleukin 6, a cell-signaling molecule in the immune system.

The discovery led to an antibody drug used to treat autoimmune diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis and Castleman's disease.